Are we liberal enough to study Arts?

Many students dread exams because of high expectations from family, teachers and others in a student's social circle. Often even well-meaning adults prey on the insecurities of young students and tell them that if they score poorly, they will have no other option but to study Arts. But the truth is that Arts, as liberal arts subjects are referred to in India, offer many exciting, deeply fulfilling, meaningful and well-paying career opportunities.

Beyond the written word

Actor Shaun Williams studied English Literature, Anthropology and History at Mumbai's prestigious St Xavier's College. "It wasn't just the variety of subjects, but also the way teachers taught us that made all the difference. Sometimes we would enact scenes from history in class. At other times, we would read out plays," says Williams, who went on to pursue acting, and has acted in over 100 TV commercials and plays. Williams is also a sought-after voice-over artist and compere for live events. He teaches acting to professionals, enthusiasts as well as corporate clients, who want to put together their own drama(tic) productions for internal events.
"I dabbled in boring 9 to 5 jobs at first, but once I convinced my parents I will be able to make a living out of performing arts, I plunged headlong into what i wanted to do every day," he says.

Benefits of multi-disciplinary education

Divya Naik Pantojee, who runs her own public relations and social media agency, credits her lawyer father for going against social pressure by letting her study Liberal Arts. She studied Psychology, Logic, Political Science, Economics, English and Sanskrit, and then went on to get a degree in media management. "I feel a multi-disciplinary education helps you cultivate multiple skill sets. While Psychology helped me understand people and their motivations, Sanskrit actually helped me improve my memory and even helped me pick up computer programming! I have dabbled in content writing, journalism, social media management and advertising. I did not go to B-school and yet became an entrepreneur because I felt confident that I could handle anything," she says.

An abstract, real career

Jai 'Zaiu' Ranjit, an artist famous for his live painting demonstrations studied Philosophy in college. To most parents today that sounds like an indulgence rather than something that could actually lead to a 'real' career, but Jai says he chose his subjects because of his desire to create art. "As an abstractionist, one must understand philosophy and ideology as well as methods of research discussion and inference. These subjects offer wonderful opportunities for exploration and discovery that opens a treasure trove of artistic expression," says Jai, who is a self-taught artist and has dabbled in a variety of genres and media.

Challenges creativity

Ganesh Kanate, a senior journalist whose career spanned from trainee reporter to senior editor over 22 years says, "I feel that the best brains should go to liberal arts instead of medicine or engineering."He credits his Liberal Arts education for preparing him for his professional and personal life. "Philosophy helped me develop critical thinking. Literature introduced me to complex characters like Prince Myshkin and Madam Bovary. This helped me as a journalist when I covered politics and crime. It made me ask difficult questions like is there redemption for criminals?" recalls Kanate., who initially studied engineering at his mother's behest. "I worked as an engineer for two years but realised it was a monotonous job that did not challenge my creativity or intellect," shares Kanate, who went on to study Eastern Philosophy, English and Hindi Literature as an external student of Nagpur University even as he earned his stripes as a cub reporter. He left journalism four years ago and now works as VP, Corporate Affairs at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.

Defence against retrenchment and recession

Jerry Johnson, an expert in organisational culture believes that every professional needs some background in liberal arts. "At the end of the day, people matter. And that is why we need multi-disciplinary training for all job profiles. A mix of Science, Liberal Arts and Commerce would create people who will always be employable because they actually understand human beings instead of just being glorified calculators," explains Johnson, who has a background in psychology, political economy and communications. "Today, we see wet robots or flesh and blood drones being manufactured in our schools and colleges. They can and will eventually be replaced with machines," warns Johnson.

Therefore, a Liberal Arts education is actually an excellent defence against retrenchment and recession.